Syrian regime forces seized territory from insurgents in northwestern Syria on Thursday, state media and a war monitor said, building on advances since the military declared an end to a brief ceasefire earlier this week.
The capture of al-Sakhr in northern Hama province followed the capture of two villages on Wednesday. The Russian-backed army operations resumed on Monday after the government accused Turkey of not abiding by commitments in the truce.
"The regime is advancing in a studied way," said Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict. Government forces were nearing the opposition-held towns of Latamneh, Kafr Zayta, and al-Habeet, he added.
Russian-backed Syrian government forces have struggled to make significant gains in more than three months of military operations in the northwest, the last major foothold of rebel groups, some of which are backed by Turkey.
Airstrikes and bombardment of the rebel-held area by the Syrian government and Russian forces have uprooted hundreds of thousands of people and killed at least 450 civilians since late April, the United Nations has said.
The Syrian government had said it would agree to the ceasefire on condition militants fulfilled a Russian-Turkish deal last year which aimed to create a demilitarized zone.
Though Turkey-backed rebel factions operate in Idlib province in the northwest, the dominant force there is the militant Tahrir al-Sham group, formerly known as the Nusra Front.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday that Turkey would not let plans for a safe zone in northeast Syria to stall over negotiations with the United States. This came a day after Washington and Ankara announced plans for a joint headquarters but offered few details.
Washington and Ankara have been at odds over plans for northeastern Syria, where US allies on the ground in the battle against Islamic State include a Kurdish militia that Turkey considers an enemy and a terrorist group.
The NATO allies have been discussing a safe zone near the Turkish frontier that would be kept free of fighters and heavy weapons, but Turkey wants it to extend more than twice as far into Syria as the United States has proposed.
Turkey has suggested it will act militarily if the United States fails to agree a solution that will safeguard the border.
Three days of talks between military delegations ended on Wednesday with the announcement that Washington and Ankara would set up a joint operation center in Turkey to coordinate and manage the safe zone. But no agreement has been announced on key details, including the size of the zone and the command structure of joint patrols that would be conducted there.
Cavusoglu compared the negotiations to an earlier agreement with Washington intended to remove Kurdish YPG militia fighters from the northern Syrian city of Manbij. Ankara has repeatedly accused Washington of stalling over the implementation of that agreement, known as the Manbij roadmap.
"We will not allow these efforts (on the safe zone) to turn into the Manbij roadmap," Cavusoglu told a news conference in Ankara.
The safe zone was proposed last year by US President Donald Trump, who had announced plans to withdraw US special forces from northern Syria but later delayed the withdrawal to ensure Washington's Kurdish allies would be protected.
Ankara has repeatedly expressed its frustration with the slow progress over Manbij. In the past month, officials have also expressed impatience over talks with the US regarding the safe zone.
Washington has proposed a 5-kilometer (3-mile) demilitarized strip and an additional 9 km (5.6 miles) cleared of heavy weapons. Turkey wants the zone to extend at least twice as far.
The Syrian government said on Thursday that the US-Turkish agreement represented a "blatant attack" on Syria's sovereignty and territorial unity and a "dangerous escalation".
